Cisco seals US$2.7 billion Sourcefire acquisition

Cisco has today completed the acquisition of cybersecurity provider Sourcefire, in a deal worth US$2.7 billion.

As a result of the deal, Cisco says it will provide one of the "industry’s most comprehensive advanced threat protection portfolios."

Under the terms of the agreement, the company is paying $76 per share in cash in exchange for each share of Sourcefire and assuming outstanding equity awards for an aggregate purchase price of approximately $2.7 billion, including retention-based incentives.

Fresh from confirming the deal, Cisco Security Group senior VP Christopher Young claims the increased scrutiny on security is being driven by the evolving trends of mobility, cloud computing, and advanced targeted attacks.

More than the attacks themselves, a major consideration is the change in what defines a network, which goes beyond traditional firewalls and includes data centers, endpoints, virtual and mobile to make up the extended network.

A threat-centric security model lets defenders address the full attack continuum, across all attack vectors, and respond at any time, all the time according to Young.

“To truly protect against all possible attack vectors, our focus is to examine the nature of modern networked environments and devices and to defend them by deeply understanding and analysing the mindset of the attackers,” he says.

“Cisco’s portfolio of integrated solutions support this focus by delivering unmatched visibility and continuous advanced threat protection, allowing customers to act smarter and more quickly -- before, during, and after an attack.”

Cisco expects the acquisition to be slightly dilutive to non-GAAP earnings in fiscal year 2014 due to normal purchase accounting adjustments and integration costs while all shares of Sourcefire are expected to be delisted from the NASDAQ stock market by the close of business today.

With the completion of the transaction, Sourcefire employees join the Cisco Security Group led by Young.

Additionally, Martin Roesch, founder and CTO of Sourcefire, becomes vice president and chief architect for Cisco’s Security Group reporting directly to Young.